Capt. Jared Weir on Shaka, well what can I say, if your only bite of the day (they stopped fishing after) is a grander black marlin, or 1100lbs, you’re having a great day!! (I should have the exact size soon. Update: It was 1097lbs.) Chris Morris was the angler–who also caught all five on Thursday. Well done Chris, what a top effort to all on board!!

Likewise, on KEKOA, we had a great day start to our day. Our first bite was a triple header and we watched them go bang…scad, bang…stinger, bang…big bait. The stinger promptly fell off but we were hooked to two fish, a big and small. Since Scott was on strike he decided to do both of them quickly bringing the smaller fish to the boat first so that we could go and chase the larger. 45 minutes minutes later, with only one series of big jumps, she was beside the boat and released and Capt. Luke put her at over 1000lbs! Two down for Scott and Ian was in the chair next for his very first marlin–which gave him a tough time (as did the heckler behind)–before giving us another great arial display on the leader. Three from several as after that we were hassled by the smaller males again and pulled the hooks on one more at the back of the boat. (I have photo envy today, no real good photos of our big fish )

Capt. Tim Dean on Calypso also had a top day finishing with three from three including one nice solid fish that he put at 850lbs.

Capt. Damien Collette on Saltaire also fished Linden Bank on a day trip out of Cairns and released a 900lb-er at Spur Reef just before home time. Damien’s 16 year old son Jake was on the leader for his first big fish wire! Congrats to all!

Capt. Tim Richardson on Tradition also released two from three also before heading into Cairns for changeover. Likewise, Capt. Daniel Carlson on Little Audrey finished up their trip yesterday with zero’s but still 7 for the 5 days fishing including three over a grand! And Capt. Bobby Jones on Iceman fought a big fish for 2.5 hours late in the day before unfortunately she was lost.

Back on the Gold Coast, Capt. Brent James now at the helm of the Mauna Kea released a blue marlin approximately 250lbs on his first day’s charter. The fish was successfully switch baited onto 50lb tackle. Also Vince on private boat Barco tells me they also released a blue, it was a long day to find it, but find it they did!

Not a lot of fish yesterday but a number of big girls caught and plenty more seen.

Fishing to the south Capt. Adam Jordan on Iona 2 released this one that they put at over the mark for angler Pete Sutcliffe and had a bite out of another nice big one (above and below a couple of great shots from Rhino and a link to the video – I fixed the links in yesterday’s report as well).

Capt. Ashley Wallis’ Kalira also released a nice big fish at Euston Light, that Ashley put at 900lbs for angler Neville.

A catch up report from Capt. Brett Thomas’ Gorilla from Sunday – Toby sent me this small still from the GoPro of a fish that Brett put at 950lbs for angler Johan off Spur Reef.


Also down the bottom, Capt. Brett Goetze on Reel Chase released one at the 350lb mark and Brett says he marked a lot of fish. And Jacinta finished her trip up on Amokura early with another small one yesterday.

In the middle, Capt. Bobby Jones on Iceman had the pick of the day releasing three fish, two before anyone else had even started fishing, to 700lbs.  Capt. Craig “Sparra” Denham on Square Bear released another smaller fish for angler Marty Goldstein to end their trip before heading in early on changeover.  Capt. Jared Weir on Shaka put Kevin onto a smaller black (one from three) and Capt. Tim Dean on Calypso also released one (happy birthday for today Capt. Tim!)  Capt. Tim Richardson on Tradition also released one from three. Tim says that he saw nine fish all up, a lot of tailors and pods together. A good sign for the days to come.

Three shot compilation of the bite of Kevin’s fish from John on Shaka

Up the top end, we came along a couple of fish who were clearly more interested in each other than the baits with the big girl all lit up and the smaller male zipping around her back and forth.  And with a couple of missed opportunities late in the day including breaking the line on one, that was it for the top end.

The gang on Castille dressed up in their Halloween glory

I hear it was a good night at the Lizard Island Halloween Party last night and sore heads abound this morning.  I hear that the boats in the vicinity of Number 3 Ribbon may have some sore heads again tomorrow courtesy of a raft up tonight to celebrate a certain someone’s birthday and Rodney AKA Rocket is also having a gathering on Saturday night to celebrate his birthday and so boats fishing in the vicinity of Mistress on Saturday, I’m told all are welcome to gather then as well.

Starting at the bottom of the reef and working north…

Retired legend Capt. Laurie Woodbridge returned to the edge on board the Tainui with Capt. Peter Kirkby yesterday. Tainui is back on the water after some engine troubles kept them in port for the early season.  Word has it that on their first day out they fought a grander black for two hours before unfortunately losing the fish! That’s some way to start!  Capt. Simon Carosi’s Brilliant Company also jumped a 500lb-er off at Jenny Louise.  And also down the bottom, fishing at his Bus Stop on Linden Bank, Capt. Adam Jordan on Iona 2 released a 650lb-er and lost another fish and raising another nice big one. Rhino sent me this gorgeous underwater pic of their fish.

And on Little Audrey fishing at Number 4 Ribbon, another big fish. This one that Capt. Daniel Carlson put at 950lbs for angler Terry Harvey.  That was in addition to a 400lb fish for Bruce Murphy to kick things off for their latest trip.

On Number 5 Ribbon the boys from New Caledonia kept up the momentum on KEKOA with us releasing 4 from 4 by 2pm which gave some more great photo opportunities (above and below) boatside in the glamour conditions. Unfortunately we couldn’t convert it into 5!  Or seven as it was with the end stats for us, 4 from 7 with the last three failing to hook up. That’s two four fish days in a row and put us at 10 for the end of this trip.

Fishing nearby, we saw owner John Hendry hook up to a very solid 500lb-er  on board Shaka.  I took this shot above as Capt. Jared Weir chased her out wide.  John is fishing with a torn bicep (!) but still managed to get her boatside for the photo and released (below).

More information from Kanahoee’s big fish on Friday, Capt. Chris “Sharky” Miles released three including two big girls at 700 and 950lbs!  They added another smaller fish in the middle yesterday as well.

Up the top at Number 10, Capt. Tim Richardson on Tradition released a 350lb-er for Stephan.  Has everyone been following Scott Kerrigan’s blog of the trip?  Scott is on board for 14 days and it taking some amazing photos of the reef experience. Capt. Tim has Nov 3-10 open on Tradition, if you are interested, contact him here.

And lastly another Rhino preview trailer video clip from Iona 2.  How good is that?

Lydie and her husband Pete have been fishing with Capt. Tim Richardson on Tradition for the past 6 years, and many of those fishing the Lizard Island Black Marlin Classic (Lydie won Champion Female Angler in 2008 with a score that pipped the Champion Male on countback) as they are this year.

Yesterday, while fishing outside of tournament hours (after cease fishing), the team hooked a fish that they quickly realized could be Lydie’s fish of a lifetime.  After 45 minutes in the chair it was brought alongside.

This morning they weighed it at 1103lbs.

Congratulations to Lydie, Peter, Capt. Tim and Steve and Carl on deck!

Lets just say it’s lucky we’re all on boats – soooo much rain overnight!

Shaka’s Captain Jared Weir is on the downhill run, winding up his season on the reef later this week.  But he’s already finishing on a high for owner/angler John releasing their second grander black marlin of the season yesterday. Captain Jared said they were on the spot quite early and released the fish just around one o’clock before most of the fleet had arrived.  John sent through this video still (main picture above) – thanks John and congratulations!

On KEKOA, we had a great morning bait fishing yesterday on the way out from Cairns and even I had a turn on the rod bringing in a rainbow runner from the spinning rod upstairs on the flybridge.  This turned out to be our lucky Rodney, snaring a frisky 350lb-er in the afternoon for Graeme which gave an under-the-weather Dingo a hard time on the leader (thumbnails above).

A catch up report also from Cool Runnings who have been out this week releasing a 450lb-er on Wednesday and a 250lb-er on Friday for Port Stephens angler Brad Pretti.